His enthusiasm for the Lord spurs men to action. "Then these Levites set to work: from the Kohathites, Mahath the son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah; from the Merarites, Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel; from the Gershonites, Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah; from the descendants of Elizaphan, Zechariah and Mattaniah; from the descendants of Heman, Jehiel and Shemei; from the descendants of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel." (2 Chronicles 29:12-14)
These men have the honor of having their names listed in the word of God. We don't know what type of men they were before Hezekiah spoke the encouraging words we studied earlier in the week but we know that they stepped forward in faith after hearing those words. You and I may not have a lot in our pasts to be proud of---perhaps these men didn't either---but our God is a forward-looking God. He's concerned about what we do from this day forward. We find nothing written here about what the men in verses 12-14 were doing before Hezekiah asked them to commit themselves to the Lord because the Scriptures are concerned only with what they are doing from that point on. The Lord will not keep bringing up anything from the past that we've repented of and turned away from. Those things have been dealt with! Those things are under the blood of Christ and we have been washed clean of them.
Hezekiah's love for the Lord has affected these men in a positive way. They, in turn, have a positive affect on the other priests and Levites. "When they had assembled their fellow Levites and consecrated themselves, they went in to purify the temple of the Lord, as the king had ordered, following the word of the Lord. The priests went into the sanctuary of the Lord to purify it. They brought out to the courtyard of the Lord's temple everything unclean that they found in the temple of the Lord. The Levites took it and carried it out to the Kidron Valley. They began the consecration on the first day of the first month, and by the eighth day of the month they reached the portico of the Lord. For eight more days they consecrated the temple of the Lord itself, finishing on the sixteenth day of the first month." (2 Chronicles 29:15-17)
The fact that it takes sixteen days to remove unholy objects and to perform a thorough cleaning of the temple shows us just how much the temple had been neglected during the reign of King Ahaz. To use a modern example, the church I attend is quite large---the main building is larger than the temple would have been and it has far more furnishings in it than the temple had---and yet I do not believe it would take a large group of people sixteen days to thoroughly clean the building and the objects within it. Other than keeping the area around his pagan altar cleared for use, Ahaz must not have ordered even the simplest of tasks to be performed in the building.
After checking everything over and making sure nothing has been left undone, the men joyfully let the king know that the temple is once again ready for its intended use. "Then they went in to King Hezekiah and reported: 'We have purified the entire temple of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table for setting out the consecrated bread, with all its articles. We have prepared and consecrated all the articles that King Ahaz removed in his unfaithfulness while he was king. They are now in front of the Lord's altar.'" (2 Chronicles 29:18-19)
Upon hearing this good news, in tomorrow's study we will find Hezekiah holding a celebratory ceremony at the temple.
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